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He’s started, and starred in the two games since, and United have collected maximum points.

While Salomon Rondon grabbed the headlines against Bournemouth for his first-half brace, it was Ki, alongside Mo Diame, who made the team tick.

“When we signed him we knew he was a player who is quite good on the ball,” Rafa Benitez said after the Bournemouth game.

"He can pass well and make the right decisions. That is important for us.

"He has experience too. I think he has more composure on the ball and does well.

It’s that experience which has helped United deal with Shelvey’s absence.

With Shelvey’s injury, there was a initial fear. With United struggling in the league, losing the man many perceive to be their star player sent a shiver through the spines of fans.

But for Ki, it presented an opportunity he knew he had to take. For Benitez, it offered the chance to see which of his men would step up to the plate now his talisman was out injured.

The answer? Everyone.

In this writer’s opinion, Shelvey’ s absence has allowed the team to play with more freedom, where more people are on the ball and looking to create, instead of giving it to one man to deliver the killer pass.

That’s no criticism of Shelvey, for a man of his ability in a team made up of grafters is likely to be looked upon as the man to change a game - and Shelvey can handle that.

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He’s placed the most passes this season out of anyone (434), and remains in the top five for touches (560) despite missing the last two games.

Against Southampton he made the most passes of any offensive player (59), and had the most touches (70).

But when things don’t come off, sometimes there lacks a plan B, but in recent weeks with more stepping forward, United have looked more likely to create - and Ki has been central to that.

The stats show that Ki in just 413 mins, has covered 53.92km - on average 11.75km every 90 minutes.

Shelvey, with 681 minutes under his belt stands on 81.26km.

Newcastle United's Jonjo Shelvey (Image: PA)

Of course it would be slightly unfair to compare the two - it is clear that despite both being central midfielders, they are very different types of players.

Shelvey is at home sitting back, and looking to spray passes into the channels, while Ki prefers to get about the pitch - box to box.

In the 2-1 victory over Burnley, Ki put in a top performance to build on a dominant, yet perhaps for some, unnoticed, performance against Bournemouth before the international break.

He made 64 passes, with a success rate 89 per cent - equalled by only Mo Diame. Out of those 64 passes, 19 were in the final third, and 37 of them in a forward direction. He finished with a 56 accurate passes.

He covered ground of 12.4km, only matched by Matt Ritchie. Only Fabian Schar , and Ritchie (78), and Federico Fernandez (82) had more touches than Ki (69).